Riassunto
Riassunto di Rodney Stone
A chi è rivolto
Readers who enjoy Regency dandies, bare-knuckle boxing, naval heroes and a Sussex ghost story will find all of them here, together with a loyal friendship and a mystery that keeps its secret until the last chapters.
Che cos’è questo libro
Rodney Stone is a historical novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. It is set in the uneasy peace before the wars with Napoleon begin again. The story is told by an old man, who looks back from the first day of 1851 at the Regency world he knew as a boy. He is the son of a naval officer, and he has a talent for music and a good eye for other people's lives.
His story takes in a Sussex village on the Brighton road, a blacksmith who was once a champion fighter, a haunted manor with an old murder behind it, and a dandy uncle who rules London fashion. Along the way you meet the Prince of Wales, Fox, Sheridan, Beau Brummell, Lord Nelson and the great boxers of the day. Doyle fills these scenes with coach races, supper rooms and roadside fights.
You get a lively picture of a country that loves sport, fears invasion and cannot stop talking about waistcoats. You also get a friendship between two boys, one gentle and one proud, that carries the whole tale. Let us begin where Rodney does, in the little village of Friar's Oak.
In questo riassunto
- 1A Sailor's Son in a Sussex VillageFree
- 2Two Boys Go Ghost Hunting
- 3The Actress Who Wanted a Friend
- 4A Father Comes Home and a Letter Comes Too
- 5The Uncle from London
- 6The Prince, a Race and a Missing Valet
- 7Dandies, Fighters and Boy Jim's Debut
- 8Naval Heroes and a Plot at Crawley
- 9What the Story Is Really About
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A Sailor's Son in a Sussex Village
The story opens on the first of January 1851. Rodney Stone, now an old man, promises younger readers a look at the world of his youth. He warns them that he is only a plain string on which better pearls are hung. Those pearls include boxers, a prince, an admiral and his own famous uncle.
Rodney is born in 1786 in Portsmouth, into a family of sailors who name each eldest son after a favorite commander. His father, Anson Stone, is a lieutenant who spends years at sea against the French. To the boy he is only a face in a miniature on his mother's neck. In his childish mind, the man in a print of Buonaparte is his father's personal enemy, locked with him in a grapple that never ends.
His mother Mary, the daughter of a poor vicar, stretches a lieutenant's pay to keep up a decent cottage at Friar's Oak. This is a Sussex village on the London to Brighton road, and the family moved there when prices rose. Now and then prize money from captured coastal vessels helps. From her brother, Sir Charles Tregellis, comes only a recommendation of the district, for he is the talk of London.
At Joshua Allen's school Rodney meets Jim Harrison, called Boy Jim, the nephew of the village blacksmith. Jim has a face that turns heads and a mind that has no use for books. Rodney helps with his lessons, and Jim teaches him to box, wrestle and tickle trout. Their friendship lasts for life.
Jim's uncle, Champion Harrison, once fought for the English belt, and a savage blow nearly killed Black Baruk. Weeks of fear and his wife's prayers made him give up the ring for the forge. One day a coach from Brighton sends a whip cracking across his apron. Its driver, young Lord Frederick, strips for a roadside fight, then recognizes the smith, laughs, and tosses Jim a guinea.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 93,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 6 h 15 min
- Listening time10 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Rodney Stone
What is Rodney Stone about?
It is a Regency tale told by Rodney, a sailor's son from Sussex. He is taken to London by a dandy uncle, and his boyhood friend Jim Harrison becomes a prizefighter in a high-stakes match tied to an old murder.
Who is Sir Charles Tregellis in Rodney Stone?
He is Rodney's uncle, a rich London dandy and friend of the Prince of Wales, known as the king of the bucks. He sets fashions, bets on fights, and tries to teach his nephew polite society.
Is Rodney Stone a true story?
No, it is an invented story, though Doyle fills it with real figures of the time. They include Nelson, the Prince of Wales, Fox, Brummell and boxers like Jem Belcher and John Jackson.
When is Rodney Stone set?
The old narrator writes in 1851 and remembers the years around the Peace of Amiens, 1801 to 1803, when Britain waited for war with Napoleon to start again and boxing and fashion thrived.
Is Rodney Stone easy to read?
It moves along in short scenes, such as a coach race, a haunted house and a supper full of prizefighters. The dialogue is lively and the old narrator is friendly, so the story is easy to follow.